Senior year dating

; high school boyfriends and girlfriends aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. When you describe your relationship in terms of which bases you’ve hit, you’re just feeding into a competitive group mindset.

So are some other old prom-era chestnuts: Teen boys are primarily—obsessively?

—interested in sex, whereas girls, no matter how boy-crazy, tend to focus on relationships.

We college students know that relationships like the one I just described don’t come around as frequently as we’d like, especially when random hookups are the norm around the dorm.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my four years at BC, it’s that And by open to it, I don’t just mean wanting a relationship for the sake of having a relationship.

I mean really opening yourself up to all people, honestly getting to know everyone you have the opportunity to meet, and not just relying on random hookups. During my early years at BC, I met a series boys that I was mildly interested in.

Inevitably, after each spontaneous tryst, I would develop a crush, only to be let down.

I entered my junior year with a newfound confidence and a carefree attitude.

I was not expecting to date anyone, and I didn’t want to. He taught me what it is to love, what it was to be loved, what it means to give all of yourself to another person, to make sacrifices, to accept each others differences, to compromise.

Now, however, social scientists have examined them exhaustively and empirically.

These are truisms known to anyone who has watched 10 minutes of a teen movie or spent 10 minutes in a high school cafeteria.

Letting your guard down is a tough thing to do, but if you’re brave enough to do it, I promise you, the outcome will be worth it.